AP PSYCHOLOGY COURSE SYLLABUS MRS. …...AP PSYCHOLOGY COURSE SYLLABUS MRS. KRNICH NORTHGATE HIGH...

AP PSYCHOLOGY COURSE SYLLABUS

MRS. KRNICH

NORTHGATE HIGH SCHOOL

Course Description:

The purpose of the Advanced Placement course in Psychology is to introduce students to the systematic

and scientific study of the behavior and mental process of human beings and other animals. Students

are exposed to the psychological facts, principles, and phenomena associated with each of the major

subfields of psychology. They also learn about the methods psychologists use in the practice of their

science. The aim of the course is to provide the student with a rigorous learning experience, equivalent

to most college introductory psychology courses and aligning to standards and practices set forth by the

College Board. Students completing this course will also be prepared to take the AP Psychology exam in

May.

The course provides opportunities to deepen student understanding of the required content outlined in

each of the units described in the course and exam description.

The course provides opportunities for students to develop the skills related to the course skills:

Course Skill 1: Define, explain, and apply concepts, behavior, theories, and perspectives

Course Skill 2: Analyze and interpret quantitative data

Course Skill 3: Analyze psychological research studies

Materials:

David Myers, Psychology for AP (New York: Worth, 2011).

Study Guide to accompany Psychology for AP; Straub.

*Maitland, Laura Lincoln, “5 Steps to a 5 – AP Psychology,” McGraw Hill, New York, (current edition/year

is preferred)

AP Central: www.apcentral.collegeboard.com

1999, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018 released AP Psychology Exams (as provided by

the College Board)

“Discovering Psychology” website and video access, Annenburg Media, 2001.

A variety of materials will be provided to you by your instructor; please see me if you have questions

about the validity of a resource you may want to use.

*Study aids vary by preference; see me for suggestions and alternatives.

Summer Assignment:

Upon signing Northgate’s AP Expectations Contract, you will be given your summer assignment, which

includes a reading journal for two supplementary readings of your choice from the choices I provide you,

and instructions for an analysis paper you will write upon completing the summer work along with

several other assignments found on my website.

Grading Policy:

The course is run on a points-value basis for each semester, kept as a running total until the completion

of the semester. Grades are made up of daily assignments, participation, projects, written work, and

unit evaluations/assessments. Rounding of grades occurs for semester grades only as shown below:

89.5-100: A

79.5-89.4: B

69.5-79.4: C

59.5-69.4: D

59.4 or below: F

Late work is accepted for half credit AT MY DISCRETION. There will be several assignments that have

non-negotiable due dates and will not be accepted late; you will be informed of this upon their

assignment. Tests and projects are to be taken/due on the day they are assigned; you receive a calendar

monthly of due dates and daily work to avoid confusion in advance.

ABSENCES ARE NOT EXCUSES FOR NOT COMPLETING YOUR WORK.

*ABSENCES ON EXAM DATES SHOULD BE AVOIDED WHENEVER POSSIBLE. KNOWN EXCUSED ABSENCES

ON EXAM DATES MUST BE COMMUNICATED WITH ME IN ADVANCE TO PLAN OUT A TIMELY MAKE UP

EXAM DATE. IF YOUR EXCUSED ABSENCE IS UNEXPECTED, YOU MUST COMMUNICATE WITH ME VIA

EMAIL ABOUT WHY YOU WERE ABSENT AND ARRANGE AND COMMIT TO A TEST MAKE UP DATE IN

THAT EMAIL COMMUNICATION.*

Cell phones are permitted only during supervised, assigned activities. They will be kept in a labeled

envelope and locked in a cabinet during tests and quizzes. Please let me know if other arrangements

need to be made.

Course Schedule/Outline (Dates are flexible at my discretion. Please note that unit numbers do not

correlate with the numbers in the text; on your class calendar I will give assigned readings by page in

textbook, not unit number):

Semester One:

Unit 1: Social Psychology (AP Unit Nine; Percentage of AP exam coverage: 8-10%)

Unit 2: History and Approaches (AP Unit One Scientific Approaches of Psych. 10-14%)

Unit 3: Research Methods (AP Unit One Scientific Approaches of Psych. 10-14%)

Unit 4: Biological Bases of Behavior (AP Unit Two, same title, 8-10%)

Unit 5: Evolutionary Psychology/Development (AP Unit Six, same title, 7-9%)

Unit 6: Sensation and Perception (AP Unit Three, same title, 6-8%)

Unit 7: States of Consciousness (AP Unit Two: Biological Bases of Behavior, 8-10%)

Semester Two:

Unit 8: Learning (AP Unit Four, same title, 7-9%)

Unit 9: Memory/Cognition (AP Unit Five: Cognitive Psychology, 13-17%)

Unit 10: Motivation and Emotion (AP Unit Seven: Motivation, Emotion, and Personality, 11-15%)

Unit 11: Personality (AP Unit Seven: Motivation, Emotion, and Personality, 11-15%)

Unit 12: Testing and Individual Differences (AP Unit Five: Cognitive Psychology, 13-17%)

Unit 13: Disorders (also known as Abnormal Behavior) (AP Unit Eight: Clinical Psychology, 12-16%)

Unit 14: Treatment (AP Unit Eight: Clinical Psychology, 12-16%)

Review for AP Psychology Exam and Final Exam; Final Projects

Unit 1: Social Psychology

AP students in psychology will be able to do the following:

• Apply attribution theory to explain motives (e.g., fundamental attribution error, self-serving bias).

• Describe the structure and function of different kinds of group behavior

(e.g., deindividuation, group polarization).

• Explain how individuals respond to expectations of others, including groupthink, conformity, and

obedience to authority.

• Discuss attitudes and how they change (e.g., central route to persuasion).

• Predict the impact of the presence of others on individual behavior (e.g., bystander effect, social

facilitation).

• Describe processes that contribute to differential treatment of group members (e.g., in-group/out-

group dynamics, ethnocentrism, prejudice).

• Articulate the impact of social and cultural categories (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity) on self-concept and

relations with others.

• Anticipate the impact of behavior on a self-fulfilling prophecy.

• Describe the variables that contribute to altruism, aggression, and attraction.

• Discuss attitude formation and change, including persuasion strategies and cognitive dissonance.

• Identify important figures in social psychology (e.g., Solomon Asch, Leon Festinger, Stanley Milgram,

Philip Zimbardo).

Textbook Reading: Myers, Unit 14, text pgs. 643-695

Unit 2: History and Approaches


• Recognize how philosophical perspectives shaped the development of psychological thought.

• Describe and compare different theoretical approaches in explaining behavior:

—structuralism, functionalism, and behaviorism in the early years;

—Gestalt, psychoanalytic/psychodynamic, and humanism emerging later;

—evolutionary, biological, and cognitive as more contemporary approaches.

• Recognize the strengths and limitations of applying theories to explain behavior.

• Distinguish the different domains of psychology:

—biological, clinical, cognitive, counseling, developmental, educational, experimental, human factors,

industrial–organizational, personality, psychometric, and social.

• Identify the major historical figures in psychology (e.g., Mary Whiton Calkins, Charles Darwin,

Dorothea Dix, Sigmund Freud, G. Stanley Hall, William James, Ivan Pavlov, Jean Piaget, Carl Rogers, B. F.

Skinner, Margaret Floy Washburn, John B. Watson, Wilhelm Wundt).

Textbook Reading Assignments: Myers, Unit 1, pgs. 1-18

Unit 3: Research Methods


• Differentiate types of research (e.g., experiments, correlational studies, survey research, naturalistic

observations, and case studies) with regard to purpose, strengths and weaknesses.

• Describe how research design drives the reasonable conclusions that can be drawn (e.g., experiments

are useful for determining cause and effect; the use of experimental controls reduce alternative

explanations).

• Identify independent, dependent, confounding, and control variables in experimental designs.

• Distinguish between random assignments of participants to conditions in experiments and random

selection of participants, primarily in correlational studies and surveys.

• Predict the validity of behavioral explanations based on the quality of research design (e.g.,

confounding variables limit confidence in research conclusions).

• Distinguish the purposes of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.

• Apply basic descriptive statistical concepts, including interpreting and constructing graphs and

calculating simple descriptive statistics (e.g., measures of central tendency, standard deviation).

• Discuss the value of reliance on operational definitions and measurement in behavioral research.

• Identify how ethical issues inform and constrain research practices.

• Describe how ethical and legal guidelines (e.g., those provided by the American Psychological

Association, federal regulations, local institutional review boards) protect research participants and

promote sound ethical practice.

Textbook Reading: Myers, Unit 2, pgs. 18-50

Unit 4: Biological Bases of Behavior


• Identify basic processes and systems in the biological bases of behavior, including parts of the neuron

and the process of transmission of a signal between neurons.

• Discuss the influence of drugs on neurotransmitters (e.g., reuptake mechanisms).

• Discuss the effect of the endocrine system on behavior.

• Describe the nervous system and its subdivisions and functions:

—central and peripheral nervous systems;

—major brain regions, lobes, and cortical areas;

—brain lateralization and hemispheric specialization.

• Recount historic and contemporary research strategies and technologies that support research (e.g.,

case studies, split-brain research, imaging techniques).

• Discuss psychology’s abiding interest in how heredity, environment, and evolution work together to

shape behavior.

• Predict how traits and behavior can be selected for their adaptive value.

• Identify key contributors (e.g., Paul Broca, Charles Darwin, Michael Gazzaniga, Roger Sperry, Carl

Wernicke)

Textbook Reading: Myers, Unit 3A, 3B (pgs. 50-94)

Unit 5: Evolutionary/Developmental Psychology


• Discuss the interaction of nature and nurture (including cultural variations) in the determination of

behavior.

• Explain the process of conception and gestation, including factors that influence successful fetal

development (e.g., nutrition, illness, substance abuse).

• Discuss maturation of motor skills.

• Describe the influence of temperament and other social factors on attachment and appropriate

socialization.

• Explain the maturation of cognitive abilities (e.g., Piaget’s stages, information processing).

• Compare and contrast models of moral development (e.g., Kohlberg, Gilligan).

• Discuss maturational challenges in adolescence, including related family conflicts.

• Characterize the development of decisions related to intimacy as people mature.

• Predict the physical and cognitive changes that emerge as people age, including steps that can be

taken to maximize function.

• Describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development.

• Identify key contributors in developmental psychology (e.g., Mary Ainsworth, Albert Bandura, Diana

Baumrind, Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud, Carol Gilligan, Harry Harlow, Lawrence Kohlberg, Konrad Lorenz,

Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky).

Textbook Reading: Myers, Unit 3C (pgs. 94-114) and Unit 9 (410-478).

Unit 6: Sensation and Perception


• Discuss basic principles of sensory transduction, including absolute threshold, difference threshold,

signal detection, and sensory adaptation.

• Describe sensory processes (e.g., hearing, vision, touch, taste, smell, vestibular, kinesthesis, pain),

including the specific nature of energy transduction, relevant anatomical structures, and specialized

pathways in the brain for each of the senses.

• Explain common sensory disorders (e.g., visual and hearing impairments).

• Describe general principles of organizing and integrating sensation to promote stable awareness of the

external world (e.g., Gestalt principles, depth perception).

• Discuss how experience and culture can influence perceptual processes

(e.g., perceptual set, context effects).

• Explain the role of top-down processing in producing vulnerability to illusion.

• Discuss the role of attention in behavior.

• Challenge common beliefs in parapsychological phenomena.

• Identify the major historical figures in sensation and perception (e.g., Gustav Fechner, David Hubel,

Ernst Weber, Torsten Wiesel).


Unit 7: States of Consciousness


• Describe various states of consciousness and their impact on behavior.

• Discuss aspects of sleep and dreaming:

—stages and characteristics of the sleep cycle;

—theories of sleep and dreaming;

—symptoms and treatments of sleep disorders.

• Identify the major psychoactive drug categories (e.g., depressants, stimulants) and classify specific

drugs, including their psychological and physiological effects.

• Discuss drug dependence, addiction, tolerance, and withdrawal.

• Identify the major figures in consciousness research (e.g., William James, Sigmund Freud, Ernest

Hilgard).


Unit 8: Learning


• Distinguish general differences between principles of classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and

observational learning (e.g., contingencies).

• Describe basic classical conditioning phenomena, such as acquisition, extinction, spontaneous

recovery, generalization, discrimination, and higher order learning.

• Predict the effects of operant conditioning (e.g., positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement,

punishment, schedules of reinforcement).

• Predict how practice, schedules of reinforcement, and motivation will influence quality of learning.

• Interpret graphs that exhibit the results of learning experiments.

• Provide examples of how biological constraints create learning predispositions.

• Describe the essential characteristics of insight learning, latent learning, and social learning.

• Apply learning principles to explain emotional learning, taste aversion, superstitious behavior, and

learned helplessness.

• Suggest how behavior modification, biofeedback, coping strategies, and self-control can be used to

address behavioral problems.

• Identify key contributors in the psychology of learning (e.g., Albert Bandura, John Garcia, Ivan Pavlov,

Robert Rescorla, B. F. Skinner, Edward Thorndike, Edward Tolman, John B. Watson).


Unit 9: Memory/Cognition


• Compare and contrast various cognitive processes:

—effortful versus automatic processing;

—deep versus shallow processing;

—focused versus divided attention.

• Describe and differentiate psychological and physiological systems of memory (e.g., short-term

memory, procedural memory).

• Outline the principles that underlie effective encoding, storage, and construction of memories.

• Describe strategies for memory improvement.

• Synthesize how biological, cognitive, and cultural factors converge to facilitate acquisition,

development, and use of language.

• Identify problem-solving strategies as well as factors that influence their effectiveness.

• List the characteristics of creative thought and creative thinkers.

• Identify key contributors in cognitive psychology (e.g., Noam Chomsky, Hermann Ebbinghaus,

Wolfgang Köhler, Elizabeth Loftus, George A. Miller).

Textbook Reading: Myers, Unit 7A, 7B, pgs. 254-298

Unit 10: Motivation and Emotion/Stress/Health


• Identify and apply basic motivational concepts to understand the behavior of humans and other

animals (e.g., instincts, incentives, intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation).

• Discuss the biological underpinnings of motivation, including needs, drives, and homeostasis.

• Compare and contrast motivational theories (e.g., drive reduction theory, arousal theory, general

adaptation theory), including the strengths and weaknesses of each.

• Describe classic research findings in specific motivation systems (e.g., eating, sex, social)

• Discuss theories of stress and the effects of stress on psychological and physical well-being.

• Compare and contrast major theories of emotion (e.g., James–Lange, Cannon– Bard, Schachter two-

factor theory).

• Describe how cultural influences shape emotional expression, including variations in body language.

• Identify key contributors in the psychology of motivation and emotion

(e.g., William James, Alfred Kinsey, Abraham Maslow, Stanley Schachter, Han Selye).

Textbook Reading: Myers, Unit 8A, 8B, pgs. 326-410

Unit 11: Personality


• Compare and contrast the major theories and approaches to explaining personality: psychoanalytic,

humanist, cognitive, trait, social learning, and behavioral.

• Describe and compare research methods (e.g., case studies and surveys) that psychologists use to

investigate personality

• Identify frequently used assessment strategies (e.g., the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

[MMPI], the Thematic Apperception Test [TAT]), and evaluate relative test quality based on reliability

and validity of the instruments.

• Speculate how cultural context can facilitate or constrain personality development, especially as it

relates to self-concept (e.g., collectivistic versus individualistic cultures).

• Identify key contributors to personality theory (e.g., Alfred Adler, Albert Bandura, Paul Costa and

Robert McCrae, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers).


Unit 12: Testing and Individual Differences


• Define intelligence and list characteristics of how psychologists measure intelligence:

—abstract versus verbal measures;

—speed of processing.

• Discuss how culture influences the definition of intelligence.

• Compare and contrast historic and contemporary theories of intelligence

(e.g., Charles Spearman, Howard Gardner, Robert Sternberg).

• Explain how psychologists design tests, including standardization strategies and other techniques to

establish reliability and validity.

• Interpret the meaning of scores in terms of the normal curve.

• Describe relevant labels related to intelligence testing (e.g., gifted, cognitively disabled).

• Debate the appropriate testing practices, particularly in relation to culturally fair test uses.

• Identify key contributors in intelligence research and testing (e.g., Alfred Binet, Francis Galton, Howard

Gardner, Charles Spearman, Robert Sternberg, Louis Terman, David Wechsler).


Unit 13: Disorders (title in text is Abnormal Psychology)


• Describe contemporary and historical conceptions of what constitutes psychological disorders.

• Recognize the use of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

Disorders (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association as the primary reference for making

diagnostic judgments.

• Discuss the major diagnostic categories, including anxiety and somatoform disorders, mood disorders,

schizophrenia, organic disturbance, personality disorders, and dissociative disorders, and their

corresponding symptoms.

• Evaluate the strengths and limitations of various approaches to explaining psychological disorders:

medical model, psychoanalytic, humanistic, cognitive, biological, and sociocultural.

• Identify the positive and negative consequences of diagnostic labels (e.g., the Rosenhan study).

• Discuss the intersection between psychology and the legal system (e.g., confidentiality, insanity

defense).


Unit 14: Treatment of Psychological Disorders


• Describe the central characteristics of psychotherapeutic intervention.

• Describe major treatment orientations used in therapy (e.g., behavioral, cognitive, humanistic) and

how those orientations influence therapeutic planning.

• Compare and contrast different treatment formats (e.g., individual, group).

• Summarize effectiveness of specific treatments used to address specific problems.

• Discuss how cultural and ethnic context influence choice and success of treatment (e.g., factors that

lead to premature termination of treatment).

• Describe prevention strategies that build resilience and promote competence.

• Identify major figures in psychological treatment (e.g., Aaron Beck, Albert Ellis, Sigmund Freud, Mary

Cover Jones, Carl Rogers, B. F. Skinner, Joseph Wolpe).


Review for AP Exam:

Selected Activities (not limited to):

Students will be attending structured lunch study group meetings.

Students will be attending a Saturday or after school review session.

Students will be encouraged to use posted review materials on the class webpage.

Students will be using released AP Psychology practice tests – both multiple choice and essays.

Students will be working in small groups to complete review guides.

Key Class Assignments/Projects include, but are not limited to:

All students will be required to maintain an individual binder that will be collected quarterly and a

separate composition book that contains daily starting point questions and answers. Starting Points will

be collected periodically throughout the semester and sometimes without warning. Binders will be

organized by unit/topic. The binder will contain class notes, book notes, handouts, journal articles, class

exercises, homework, assessments, special projects, and other materials in the preparation for the AP

Exam.

Students will regularly be given AP style questions relating to textbook readings, classroom discussions,

and supplemental readings. These questions will be in either multiple choice form, essay form, or both.

Students will be assessed at the end of each unit with a test and/or project.

Projects can include class presentations and research papers.

Project topics may include the following:

Naturalistic Observation

Each student completes a 15-minute observation of a human participant in a naturalistic setting. The

purpose is to familiarize students with this method, to improve their powers of observation, and to help

them distinguish between subjective and objective records.

Experimental Design

Students are given a hypothetical research problem and told to write a proposal for a controlled

experiment to solve it. The exercise serves to improve their understanding of research methodology.

Behavior Modification

Each student designs an application of operant conditioning principles to modify a human participant’s

behavior. After receiving approval, students attempt the modification over a three-week period. The

project develops firsthand experience of Skinner’s theory.

Applications of Developmental Psychology

Students work in small groups to research a recent topic related to the unit on development (e.g., the

benefits of Head Start programs, effectiveness of sex or drug education programs, effects of divorce on

children) and then present their findings to the class in an oral report of 15 to 20 minutes. The project

provides an introduction to library and online research tools in psychology as well as APA

documentation.

Controlled Experiment

Students research a topic of their choice, subject to approval. The final project must incorporate a

review of literature, discussion of method, presentation and evaluation of results, and a conclusion.

Review of Literature

Students research a topic of their choice. The final paper must develop an original thesis on a

controversial topic.

Brain Superhero/Villain Project

Students make up a superhero, villain, or sidekick for the following 18 areas of the human brain.

Students design what that character would have as their special power and or special weakness if that

part of their brain was ‘super’.

Dream Journal/Analysis/Theory

Students will keep a dream log, write a research paper analyzing their research, and come up with a

dream theory based on their findings.

Writing Assignments:

Students will write a free-response for multiple units that relates to our topic of study for that Unit. The

format follows previously released AP examination FRQ.

Students will write take-home free-responses to previously released FRQs from released AP exams.

Students will discuss and report in writing on current psychological issues in the media, as assigned.

***This listing of projects/assignments is always subject to change based on the needs of our class.

Please stay posted on our current work using your materials and the class website.

REMEMBER:

This class will be incredibly rewarding and useful, as long as you are willing to put in the required effort

to make it worth your while! I am here to be your coach and guide this year; it is your responsibility to

let me know when you need help or clarification.

I look forward to working with you this year!

Mrs. Krnich

CONTACT INFO:

Location: Room 30 (all periods)

Email: [email protected]

Remind: @6ff23c2

Website: www.mrskrnichnhs.weebly.com

OFFICE HOURS

Tuesday and Wednesdays at lunch or by appointment as needed

mailto:[email protected]

AP PSYCHOLOGY SYLLABUS SIGNATURES:

By signing, I state that I understand the requirements of this course as presented in the above syllabus:

STUDENT NAME PRINTED: ______________________________________________

STUDENT SIGNATURE: _________________________________________________

CLASS PERIOD: __________________

PARENT/GUARDIAN NAME PRINTED: ______________________________________

PARENT/GUARDIAN SIGNATURE: __________________________________________

AP PSYCHOLOGY COURSE SYLLABUS MRS. …...AP PSYCHOLOGY COURSE SYLLABUS MRS. KRNICH NORTHGATE HIGH...

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